1.6.1 Management Oversight / Decision Making

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

AMENDMENT

This chapter was amended slightly in December 2014; At the bottom of Section 3, Advice / Guidance on the Operation of the Process, the responsibility of the practitioner or supervisor/manager seeking a decision to ensure a record of the discussion is placed on the child’s electronic file, along with the name of the manager has been emphasised.

Contents

1. Introduction

There is a clear Supervision Policy and Framework in place in the department alongside a Decision Making Hierarchy. Management decisions which have a significant impact upon children's lives should be made in the context of a careful / considered approach in Supervision in line with the Decision Making Hierarchy. All decisions should be fully recorded on the child's electronic record.

2. Purpose of this Document

This document gives advice / clarity regarding management oversight/decision making outside formal supervision. Inevitably in front-line safeguarding and child protection teams there will be decisions which will need to be made in emergencies, or which will not safely wait until the next programmed supervision. It is important that this level of management oversight / supervision and decision making is captured and evidenced on the child's electronic record.

The circumstances where such oversight/decisions may be required include (although not exclusive to):

It is also important to record management oversight / decision making where decisions not to progress courses of action are taken. Such decisions should be taken at the appropriate level outlined in the department's Decision Making Hierarchy.

3. Advice / Guidance in the Operation of the Process

Where outcome of decisions have been made or agreed not to be progressed, the "Record of Discussion/Decision" proforma should be completed under the management oversight section. The practitioner's line manager should be the first point of contact for this discussion.

It is helpful if the practitioner seeking the management oversight/decision making completes the "Discussion" section before approaching their manager. This will help to formulate their thinking ahead of the discussion. The manager should complete the detail of the "Decision / Action / Recommendation" section (there may be one decision or there may be several) and ensure the record is signed off.

Where the manager completing the pro-forma is not the practitioner's line manager, both managers should be copied into the document with a workflow and email message in the Child's Electronic Record being generated.

The Record of Discussion / Decision document can also be used as a means of capturing a record and the action from a formal supervision.

It is the responsibility of the practitioner or supervisor/manager seeking a decision to ensure a record of the discussion is placed on the child’s electronic file and the name of the manager making the decision is recorded within the record.